Abstract

The present study was undertaken to test the chemopreventive effects of one herbal medicinal plant, Indigofera aspalathoides, on chemically induced carcinogenesis in rats. A well-known polyaromatic hydrocarbon, namely, 20-methylcholanthrene, which is a known carcinogenic substance, was used to induce fibrosarcoma in Wistar strain of male albino rats. Fibrosarcoma rats were treated with aqueous extracts of Indigofera aspalathoides. The rats were divided into four groups, each consisting of six animals. Group I served as normal control, Group II served as fibrosarcoma-induced animals, Group III were fibrosarcoma-bearing animals treated with aqueous extracts of Indigofera aspalathoides, and Group IV animals, which were normal healthy animals treated with Indigofera aspalathoides aqueous extract, served as drug control set. Group III and Group IV animals were treated with aqueous extract of Indigofera aspalathoides intraperitoneally at a dose of 250 mg/kg. b.w. for 30 days. The fibrosarcoma was proved by pathological examinations. The activity levels of nucleic acids such as total DNA and RNA and hexose, hexosamine, and sialic acid in liver and kidney of treated rats were used to monitor the chemopreventive role of the plant extract. The observed increase in the levels of DNA, RNA, hexose, hexosamine, and sialic acid in liver and kidney tissues of fibrosarcoma-bearing animals reached near normal state after the treatment with aqueous extracts of Indigofera aspalathoides, suggesting that Indigofera aspalathoides
does have a chemotherapeutic role.